Big Little Sister
by lrhaboggle
Summary: Michael gets another chance to save Elizabeth and even though it'll jeopardize his whole mission up to this point, he just can't resist. He just has to hope that Elizabeth is willing to let him save her, no biggie. Right?
1. Big Little Sister

Michael glared at his monitor through burning tears of anger, frustration, despair and shame. So close. He had been so close! And then it was all ripped from him once again! One little slip and it was all gone, right through his fingers, again. He had lost her, again. He had lost his precious little sister again. And all due to that stupid audio lore! Michael glared at that little button, eyes burning, and he began to pound his fist against it as hard and fast as he could, taking out decades of anger, hurt, terror, death and despair on that little red circle. He cursed through his teeth, condemning himself, his sister, the animatronics that plagued them both, and the man that caused all of this in the first place to a fiery and agonizing demise. All the while, the audio lure went off like mad.

"Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi," steady, repetitive, endless, the audio lure echoed throughout the room that Michael's monitor was currently screening. For awhile, the monitor was motionless, nothing visually happened in the screen, but after enough repetition of the lure, the animatronics finally heard it and, as per their programming, came lumbering into that particular room, all of them looking for the source of the sound. Half of them were real animatronics, mindless robots, but half were possessed by various victims to this franchise's unlucky and bloody past. They were sentient, human, they knew the lure was fake, but none of them could resist its pull because the robotic programming overrode their power of will when it came to the robots' physical abilities.

At last, all of them were just congregated there in that one room. It was about this time that Michael finally calmed down enough to stop smashing the audio lure button. He turned his attention to the screen once again and while it did not really surprise him to see all of the animatronics now in that one particular room, his heart still lurched in fear, anger and disgust to see all of them just standing there... menacingly. Totally silent and still, standing in a circle and trying to find that audio lure. Michael wished that he had an option to drop a bomb and just blow them all up right then and there. The anger burned hot as fire as he continued to glare at them through the screen. All of that anger turned into guilt and grief, however, when he saw his sister's giant metallic form in that nightmarish circle of wire and abomination. She, like the others, was totally still and silent, waiting for another audio cue so that she could continue the search for the sound like all of the rest of them.

Somehow, just seeing her standing there amongst the others broke Michael's heart even more. Somehow, just seeing his sweet little sister, who was still human in his eyes, standing with the robots with the same patient posture and vacant expression was so dehumanizing that it sickened and saddened him beyond words. He hit the audio lure once in the next room. Every heard turned in that direction, including his sister's.

"Oh, Elizabeth, this was not meant to be your fate!" he moaned to himself as she obediently followed the sound into the next room, all of the other animatronics either in front or behind her, all of them headed into the next room as well. Her humanity was gone. She was a mindless drone now, just like all the others. It was heartbreaking and deeply disturbing.

Michael sat back and did not touch the lure again. Slowly but surely, the robots began to separate. With the cue no longer going off, there was no reason to stand there waiting. Michael watched them naturally spread throughout the restaurant again. It was with bitter humor that he realized that he'd spent so much time studying and working with them that he had since memorized their paths. Springtrap went this way, Circus Baby went that way, LEFTE went near, Molten Freddy went far, etc.

"How far have I fallen if my idea of normality is memorizing where giant metal robots choose to go in a pizzeria?" Michael asked himself sarcastically as he mentally traced all of their paths. Baby would go to that room, then Springtrap would walk past her in the next corridor because he was going to head to the vents while she might go to the vent on the far side of the pizzeria if LEFTE hadn't already tried to get in. Molten Freddy would either wander the halls or go in the vent Springtrap was in. He had all the timing down pat. The audio lure was the only thing that was fun because it would briefly mess up these established patterns and then he could get a cheap laugh out of sending all of the animatronics on a wild goose chase for a sound that didn't really exist. He had all the timing down pat. He had an audio lure that could send the robots on a wild goose chase... Suddenly, hope burned its way into Michael's next-to-lifeless body, the metaphorical smoke rising up to his head in a crazy idea...

For the rest of his shift, Michael intentionally kept all the animatronics towards the back of the restaurant, except one. The one he intentionally dragged closer to the entry/exit door was Circus Baby, the one with whom Elizabeth's spirit resided. Then, as soon as the day was done, once all the customers had left the pizzeria, Michael made a beeline to Circus Baby and shut her down using a tazer with the electric shocks set on maximum voltage. It pained him to do such a cruel thing to his little sister, but it had to be done if his crazy plan were to work.

As soon as her body slumped forward a little, indicating a shut down state, Michael ran as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast at all, to his office. He then set a heavy object down on that audio lure button, forcing it to spam noise again. He set it in the room furthest away from the entry/exit door which was only a few rooms away from Baby's shutdown body. Then, while all the other animatronics flocked to that far away room, Michael grabbed Circus Baby's lifeless body and ran. It was in that moment, too, that he silently thanked her for choosing to build up her new body using skates for feet. That made it far easier to drag her out of the pizzeria than if she did still have normal feet.

Then, the moment Michael and Circus Baby were outside, he shut and locked the door, that stupid audio lure now behind very thick glass. That was why Michael had knocked Baby out. It was so she wouldn't be able to respond to the audio lure. But now, with the lure's noise behind that thick glass, there was no more danger. At least not for Baby. But for Michael? Well, he was going to turn her back on now and he could only hope and pray that the thing that responded to his touch would be his sister and not the bloodthirsty robot.

"Come on, Elizabeth, come on!" Michael pleaded as he switched the giant robot on, bringing her back to life. Slowly, those blue-green eyes started to glow and the body straightened up. There was a tense few seconds of silence as the giant robot looked at her massive claw, then at Michael, then back to her body, then back to Michael. Then, she finally spoke.

"Michael?" and the voice that came from her body was very young and had a British accent. Michael released the breath he hadn't even realized that he was holding. For the first time in a very long time, he felt at peace, he felt happy, he felt... triumphant. Like he had finally, truly, actually done something good, noble and productive with his life.

"It's me, Elizabeth, I'm right here, and you're here with me, just like I promised," he murmured as comfortingly as he could. Suddenly, then, strange noises started emitting from Elizabeth's giant metal body. For a moment, Michael feared that it was Circus Baby trying to retake control over their shared body and mind, but then Michael realized that the noises still sounded very much like Elizabeth. She was crying. Those strange noises were the sound of Elizabeth crying.

"Oh, Mikey! Mikey!" she wept, and she opened up her arms. Michael did not hesitate to go into them and accept her relieved and eternally-grateful embrace. Soon, tears began to stream down his own decayed, decrepit face as he held onto her as tightly as he could. After so very long, he had done it. He had saved her. He had actually managed to save a sibling, he'd finally rescued his little sister. Although, he mused, she was not very little at all, standing at seven feet while he barely hit five and a half. So maybe she was his big little sister, but it did not matter either way, all that mattered was that they were finally together again and he had saved her. But the job was still not done yet. It was time for him to put her back together again, but this time, he would do it properly.

Using a few of the straps in the back of his car that were meant to secure things to the roof, Michael made something like a lasso for Elizabeth and had her basically skate her way home, holding onto the back of Michael's car. It was a very interesting sight and Michael honestly burst out laughing a few times during the drive home that he was literally lugging 585 pound robot on the back of his car, but since it was pitch black outside and Michael already lived in a relatively quiet neighborhood, no one noticed that, for once, he had not come home alone. It was the first time Michael was ever glad that his neighbors actively hid from him when he was near. Such behavior used to hurt him, but now it worked to his benefit. How else would he have gotten away with a giant robot skating its way home, clinging to the back of his car?

Once the car came to a stop, Michael opened his side door and Elizabeth obediently skated over to his side, picking him up and carrying him bridal style into his own house. Although Michael had just enough physical strength to live entirely on his own, he was still very frail after having been scooped clean and used as a fleshsuit for quite a bit of time and it was much easier to just have Elizabeth carry him in.

"Look at that, _big brother_ ," she teased him, looking down at him and shaking him a little in her massive arms. "I guess I am the big sister now."

"Don't be too sure of it," Michael joked weakly, relieved beyond words that Elizabeth was actually joking with him again and that it really, honestly was her and not Circus Baby. "You may be far larger than I, but you are still technically my little sister."

"Quite the big little sister, don't you think?" she asked him, something like a smirk stretching out her jagged teeth.

"And I am your little big brother," he replied with the same sarcastic and joking tone and both of them laughed softly.

Then, following about two minutes of trying to fit Elizabeth in the front door, Michael finally just gave up and gave her permission to plow right in. He hopped from her arms and stepped inside, gesturing for her to do the same.

"But I'm going to destroy the doorframe!" she worried, still on the porch while he stood inside.

"My house is a mess anyway," Michael shrugged his sagging shoulders. It was a crooked, uneven motion.

"If you insist," Elizabeth sounded uncertain, but before Michael could even say a word, Elizabeth shouldered her massive form right through the doorframe, causing both sides to bend and break. Michael blanched.

"Did you have to be so rough?" he whined as the cracks on the doorframe spider-webbed out to the wall.

"You said I could!" Elizabeth defended, crossing her arms and sounding more like a little kid than she had ever before. Michael was certain that she was trying to pout too, though her facial plates did not allow for such an expression.

"I know I said my house was a mess, but that wasn't a total go-ahead to wreck the joint!" Michael argued, but he was joking by now and wasn't trying to hide his amusement as Elizabeth continued to lumber inward, skates rumbling on the wood floor as 585 pounds of metal tried to fit itself into his tiny, decrepit living room. A bit of chipping paint fell from the doorframe and Michael could only laugh as he made one weak attempt to close the door. The door fell clean through the frame.

"Oops," Elizabeth's voice sounded sheepish and her teeth stretched into another grin. Michael only shrugged as Elizabeth skated back over and helped him reposition the door. It still wasn't going to be fixed any time soon, but both of the siblings at least wanted the door to look like it was actually protecting the house. Not that a person like Michael was in any danger of his neighbors because they were all too scared of him.

Once the door was somewhat upright, though, the little big brother and big little sister moved their way back into the living room.

"It's as tiny, ugly, run down and crooked as you are!" Elizabeth joked, surveying the ugly couch, very old TV, and chipping pain on the walls.

"Shut up," Michael said good-naturedly.

"But it feels like home," Elizabeth promised and a more genuine and meaningful smile crossed her facial plates. It was one that Michael mirrored with a knowing light in his eyes. The last time she'd said something of that nature had been to tease him and it had come from Circus Baby, whose voice was constantly laced with malice and cruel irony. This time, though, Elizabeth was being sincere and both of them knew it.

"It does, doesn't it?" Michael agreed gently. "I mean, it feels like home _now_..."

Michael spent the rest of the night carefully operating on his big little sister. His ultimate goal was to create a second body for her that her spirit could move into, then they would leave Circus Baby behind for the flames. Michael was still determined to bring about the end of the Fazbear franchise, but he no longer intended upon destroying every little last thing associated with it. Not now that Elizabeth was with him again. Not when he had a chance to save at least one innocent life, give it back the glory it deserved. And maybe he wanted to do it not necessarily to clear the family name, but to prove that not every last Afton was evil. It was only their father, but the three siblings had been innocent all along. Michael was the closets to genuinely evil, but he had outgrown it, repentant of trying to copy his father's cruel ways because such behavior culminated in the death of his younger brother, which became his catalyst for becoming good. So now, while Fazbear and its animatronics could burn, Michael had every intent upon living now, and looking after his sister and putting her back together.

"But why? Why are you being so kind as to build me a new body?" Elizabeth asked softly, sadly, as she sat in front of him on the floor.

"Because you deserve better," he replied, busily snipping and tying up the wires within her massive metal frame. At the present, he was removing some of the servos that kept her beholden to Baby's natural programming. One of the first things to go were the sensors in her "ears" that compelled her to always actively seek out noise, especially if it came from children. It wouldn't exactly do if a neighborhood kid were to walk by and laugh and then have Elizabeth instinctively go running after. Next, Michael intended upon removing her big metal claw. That way, if Baby ever did manage to take over again, she would have nothing to finish the job with. Then, lastly, Michael was installing a shocker within her very body. He hated himself for doing it, but it was to be used as a last resort. If Baby were ever to take over, either Elizabeth or Michael could activate a controlled shock of varying voltage in order to either stun or totally shut Baby down until Elizabeth could get the upper hand again. It was sad, but true. Baby was still very much alive inside of Elizabeth, and that was a constant worry for both of them, even if Baby was currently dormant.

"How can you possibly say that?" Elizabeth still sounded guilty and miserable. Michael hated that. "After all the awful things I've done."

"Because none of that was you," he said. "Like I told you before, everyone involved in this franchise has killed someone at least once. You can't beat yourself up over that. Sure, killing isn't right, but you aren't entirely to blame. No one can judge you for that."

"But I hurt you!" Elizabeth cried, twitching unhappily but still not moving as Michael continued to snip and tie.

" _Circus Baby_ hurt me," Michael corrected.

"Oh, come on Mike, don't insult me like that," Elizabeth sounded like she was pouting again. "Baby might've been in control most of the time, but do you really think I was dormant for that whole time?" she pressed. "I was still there, with her. I could talk to her, communicate with the others, and sometimes take control of this body for myself."

"What do you mean?" Michael was genuinely mystified.

"I mean that some of the things Baby did, I was on board with too," Elizabeth mumbled, then she instinctively began to draw her legs and arms up and inward like she was trying to curl up, but Michael quickly patted her knee to remind her that he was still right there. She paused but looked deeply uncomfortable still being so physically open as she confessed her darkest secret...

"Some of the things that Baby did, I agreed with. She convinced me, sometimes, to kill the nightguards and technicians because they were hurting us. Now, I know that it's not good to hurt people, even if they hurt you first, but I still did it. She made me so mad and whenever she asked if I thought we should kill them, I would say yes. I liked to hurt them, to hit and kick and punch until they died. I liked punishing them for hurting us, and then when Circus Baby finally figured out that Daddy had intentionally designed her to be a monster and not a performer at all, she wanted to get her revenge on him and convinced me to help her out even though I still loved Daddy. She convinced me to kill my own father!" Elizabeth paused, voice rising to a wail. "Then, when that didn't work, she managed to switch my mind around again and I almost joined forces with him!

"Hey now, shhhh, easy, easy," Michael tilted his head back to look his big little sister in the eye and, after a few more soft reassurances, Elizabeth finally calmed down again enough to continue her story.

"Her plan was always to use a fleshsuit. We were going to escape, find Daddy and punish him for what he did to us, to her, but then you came along. When we realized who you were, I tried to stop her, but she convinced me to keep going. Oh, Mikey, I'm so sorry, but what I'm trying to say is that I knew it was you too, but I didn't always try to protect you! Sometimes, I wanted to hurt you too. I wanted to do what Baby said. I knew you were my brother, but I didn't care. Mikey, I really did kill you!" Elizabeth began to shudder, those weird noises coming from her again. This time, though, Michael knew at once that she was crying, and although he had to admit it was a bit terrifying to hear that there was genuinely a point in time when sweet little Elizabeth wanted him dead, it wasn't entirely unreasonable.

"Hey, hey, easy, easy, shhh," Michael awkwardly comforted the giant metal robot, cooing gently to her. "Look, even if Baby did convince you to kill me and really got you to genuinely hate me, you can't blame yourself for that either. Baby is really persuasive, I know. There were moments when she honestly did trick me. You both knew I had only returned to save you, Elizabeth, but there were moments when she tricked me into wanting to save her too. She's really impossible to ignore, Circus Baby is. And besides, any true anger you might've felt towards me is still entirely understandable. To be fair, I probably deserved some of it, and even if I didn't, we've all still felt that way before where we've wanted to hurt or kill those we loved in a fit of rage..." Michael paused and swallowed. "I felt that same way too. There were some days when I just wanted to kill you. Partly to end your suffering, but partly to end my own too. I didn't always have the idea of trying to save your life. Sometimes, the plan was to end it and hope that your suffering followed suit..." Michael was unable to speak anymore, full of self-loathing now that he had just confessed wanting to kill his little sister to her face, but then roles reversed and Elizabeth became the comforter instead.

"Maybe you should have," she said. "Maybe you should have killed me. It would've been quicker and easier in the long run anyway."

"No. No! Don't say that!" Michael sobbed into her cold, hard shoulder.

"Well fine then," Elizabeth promised. "I won't say it anymore. But I still mean it. And if you think that I can still be forgiven and that I am not to blame for wanting to kill, how can you think that you are any less than I am?"

"Because I wanted to kill you even before I set foot into the Sister Location!" Michael confessed woundedly.

"But you still changed your mind and kept it that way, even after Circus Baby tricked you so many times. You still wanted to save both of us," Elizbeth reminded him gently. "I'd say that negates any initial negative feeling you might've had."

"Besides, then I still have to apologize for what happened in your most recent pizzeria," Elizabeth continued.

"No, you don't need to apologize for that either," Michael moaned into Elizabeth's shoulder, then he miserably confessed what this latest pizzeria really was: a labyrinth, a lie. A trap and a trick designed to totally destroy every part of the franchise, including Elizabeth and himself.

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to sit in silence as Michael wept in her massive arms. There was a vague sense of hurt and fear in her remaining wires now, hearing that her brother had still tried to kill her even after trying so hard to save her. Of course, she totally understood where he was coming from, but it was still a bit creepy and upsetting to hear that Michael was going to try and burn her to the ground without her even knowing and that he actively tried to convince himself that this was the best course of action.

"Even now, it still might be, but I can't do that Elizabeth. I can't do that anymore! Not to you!" Michael wept. "Even if the safest path is to burn everything to the ground, I can't burn you and I don't want to burn myself because who will look after you if I go?" Elizabeth blinked. So was that what this was about now? A guilt complex? Her metaphorical heart went out to her little big brother, so frail and small in her arms and seeking comfort so desperately. Maybe they were more alike than it seemed. Maybe time had only drawn them closer together despite them being apart for so very long. Elizabeth understood how Michael felt all too well...

"Well, maybe we can worry about that tomorrow," the giant robot finally decided. "It is a pressing matter, yes, but you're only going to make yourself more upset and that's not how I want to spend this night with you. Whether if it's the first of many to come, or the last we will ever share, let's not waste it on crying the whole time, ok?" she asked and Michael laughed wetly, finally pulling away from Elizabeth.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "After all, I still have to finish working on you. I hope my tears didn't get into any of your sockets."

"Gross," Elizabeth said as Michael pulled away. "You're an ugly crier, you look even worse now than you did five minutes ago!"

"Says you," Michael teased as the last of his sniffling passed. "You aren't exactly beautiful either."

"I'm still prettier than you," Elizabeth insisted. "And if you really are intending on keeping me, making a new body, then I'll be _way_ prettier!"

"And who's to say I won't intentionally make it ugly?" Michael suggested, comically raising his eyebrows.

"Me," Elizabeth tilted her chin, gears squeaking as she did so. "I won't let you design anything less that perfection!"

"Of course you won't," Michael snickered, wiping away the last of his tears and taking a deep breath to steady his shaking hands. It would do no good to accidently cut the wrong wire inside of Elizabeth.

"You owe me a pretty body!" Elizabeth insisted as Michael continued to operate on her.

"Spoiled brat," Michael laughed, tossing another servo and handful of wires aside.

"I'm your little sister! You're supposed to do that!" Elizabeth reminded as Michael reattached several wires into different sockets.

"My big little sister, you mean?" Michael quirked an eyebrow playfully, but he did not turn away from his work.

"You, my little big brother, would be wise to listen to me," she growled, but she made sure to do it in a way that showed Michael she was teasing. Michael knew she was only faking threatening him, however, and he didn't doubt her for a second.

The two spent the rest of the night this way, side by side on the hard wood floor, bantering back and forth like siblings who had been together their entire lives. Michael still wasn't sure what he was going to do now that such a large piece of his plan had been altered, but he took his sister's advice and let it go for that night. He could work it out later. For now, he was going to work on a far more important and immediate task: putting his (big) little sister back together again, just like he had promised years and years ago, only now this time, he was going to do it right.

 **AN: This is a semi-sequel to chapter 2 of Penroses' "The Maze" FNAF fanfic, made at the request of Dardmulzombie. Hope all my readers like it & don't think the plotline of Michael taking Scrap Baby home was too cheesy or unrealistic!**


	2. Put Back Together Again

In time, however, Michael was forced to return to work.

"What are you planning on, Michael?" Elizabeth asked as he made his way to the door. He had successfully put her back together again, but his work was very far from finished. Sure, maybe he'd polished up Elizabeth's body, removing any weapons she had (that metal claw was the first thing to go) and then adding in those defense systems of the controlled shock belts laced across her endoskeleton, but that wasn't it for her. Michael still wanted to build her a newer, better, safer, comfier, prettier body. The modifications to the Baby body were only temporary. But how was Michael going to about building that new body?

"I think I'm going to talk to Henry," he replied calmly as he reached the door, which still barely fit into the broken frame.

"Henry?! You mean like, Daddy's old partner?" Elizabeth recoiled in disbelief.

"Yeah, he's still alive, believe it or not," Michael smiled bitterly, understanding where Elizabeth's surprise had come from. "Turns out, he hadn't committed suicide after all. He just became a bit of a recluse, went into hiding, but he's back now. He helped me start up this last little pizzeria. It was his idea and my effort that brought it to life, but I'm going to ask him to help build you a new body."

"And you think he'll say yes?" doubt and guilt entered Elizabeth's voice yet again.

"I know he will," Michael promised. Ong, He won't judge you for what our father did. I know Henry. If anything, he'll be delighted to help you. His beef is not with you, it's with our father."

"But won't he be jealous of you and me? What about him and Charlie?" Elizabeth's voice grew soft and sad as she spoke that old name. Although there had come a time when she'd forgotten her own, she'd never forgotten that one. Henry's daughter, Charlie, had been Elizabeth's very best friend when they were both still alive, but then Charlie passed away. Henry seemed to have followed her to the grave, suddenly vanishing right from existence. Originally, this was chalked up as suicide, but from what Michael was saying, it hadn't been quite so drastic. Henry was still alive.

"Well, that's just it," a smile stretched its way across Michael's chapped and purpled face. "We found his daughter too..."

"You found her?! You found Charlie?!" Elizabeth was so surprised, she straightened up entirely and ended up hitting her massive metal head on Michael's ceiling. Luckily, the roof was still high enough that she didn't break anything. "Ooops," she grunted, slowly tilting her head backwards until she could see the ceiling. There was a small dent about the size of the top of her head, but that was it.

"Must you destroy my house like this?" Michael sighed, but he was smiling in amusement.

"I'm your big little sister, remember," Elizabeth muttered as she rotated her head back down to look at Michael, who was a foot and a half smaller.

"That you are," Michael agreed as he looked back up at her.

"But is it really true?" Elizabeth demanded next. "That they found Charlie, I mean."

"It is," Michael nodded. Although Elizabeth was unable to make very many facial expressions because of her metal face, Michael could sense that she was in total disbelief, laced with something akin to joy. Once again, Charlie had been her first and last friend up until tonight when she finally got to see Michael's true change of heart. It made sense that Elizabeth would be over the moon at the thought of Charlie being back in her life.

"And it is my goal," Michael continued. "To save her too. I know I wasn't supposed to let anything from this franchise go, but I'm a weak man-"

"No you're not!" Elizabeth interrupted. "You're the strongest, kindest, bravest person I've ever met!" she glared at him fiercely, eyes burning with sincerity. He smiled weakly at her before continuing.

"Thank you for having so much faith in me, but I really am very weak. It's because I'm going to save you, and her, and Henry, and myself instead of throwing us all away, like I should have. With you already here, I've proved that an animatronic _can_ be saved. If you can be, so can she, and I know that Henry will follow suit. He's like me. He'll do anything to save the girl he loves. He'll stop his suicide mission if he knows that Charlie can be saved. I just have to talk to him, but I know I will get through to him with no trouble..."

Michael trailed off then, a pained but proud smile on his withered face before bidding Elizabeth farewell as he headed off to work. It was a smile that Elizabeth mirrored, genuine hope welling up in her giant metal chest for the first time in a very, very long time. For so long, she had been certain that her life was over, that her old happiness would never return again, and Circus Baby had fed that belief. Circus Baby had been her inner demon, that little voice in the back of her mind, convincing her to abandon all hope. For awhile, she had. She had given up on all hope, surrender to Baby's twisted will. But now, with Michael here, standing before her and promising to save her two oldest friends as well, real hope was beginning to fill every wire in her endoskeleton. Maybe she didn't know how likely this plan was to succeed, but it was such a leap, such a big, beautiful promise, that she was willing to put all she had into it. If this was a chance to bring a bit of her old life back to life, she would not miss that chance.

"I told you it wasn't hopeless," Elizabeth whispered inwardly, talking to the dormant consciousness that shared her body.

"Don't be to sure of it. I will find a way out. There will be blood. And you will never escape..." ok, so maybe that other consciousness wasn't so dormant after all... Circus Baby's eerily ethereal echoed up from somewhere deep inside of the endoskeleton and Elizabeth shivered a little as she felt Baby's voice vibrate up the wires and all around her head. Elizabeth could hear so much stifled, controlled, dormant anger in those lines. Baby was not done with them, though she was behaving right now. But Elizabeth wasn't done either.

"No, Baby, you're wrong. I will get out, I will find my life again, and you will be left here to rot like the monster you are!" she muttered, then she tuned out her companion's hissing voice. With Michael gone to work, she had nothing else to distract herself from Baby. Except the TV. Hmmmm, she wondered if Michael had any good channels...

Meanwhile, the moment Michael went into work, he made a beeline towards the back room where Henry's newest assignment was awaiting him on a little tape recorder. Michael heeded every word on the tape recorder before taking out a tape of his own, leaving it addressed to Henry. Upon that tape was his request that Henry come to meet him after work outside of one of the bars between this pizzeria and his own house. It seemed like a strange request, but Michael didn't dare be more specific, not when animatronic ears were open and listening. He could only leave the new tape with the recorder and hope that Henry would see it. Although Michael knew that Henry was his partner in crime, he had yet to see the old man in person. He was still very much a recluse, refusing to meet anyone face to face, but Michael knew that Henry must come out at least once a day because of the new tapes left for Michael every day.

Sure enough, Michael's bet was correct. Just after he'd closed the pizzeria and made his way to the back to see what new animatronic might've appeared on the doorstep, he found a new cassette tape. It began typically enough but, instead of the usual, "You may proceed with the salvage, well done. End tape," line, he received something different.

"You may proceed with the salvage, however, as per paragraph three, section two, there is one more task you will need to complete before you can sign off for the night. Further instructions will await you outside, once you complete the salvage. End tape," and Michael knew immediately that the whole "extra task as per paragraph blah under section whatever" was just a coverup. The real message was clear. Michael finished the salvage unusually fast that night, hurrying outside the moment he was certain the animatronic would not cause any trouble while he was away.

Outside, sitting down curled up beside Michael's car, sat a man that could've only been Henry.

"I thought I said the bar about a couple miles away?" Michael teased Henry as he approached.

"I've downed enough alcohol for several lifetimes," Henry responded humorlessly. Michael was sobered (pun possibly intended) up by this dark statement and all lightheartedness left his withering body.

"With all due respect Mr. Henry, we weren't going out for a night on the town or a casual drink at the bar," Michael said.

"I thought not," Henry nodded. His expression was unreadable, partly from the darkness and partly from his own ability to keep a straight face.

"Though you might want a drink after you hear what I do have in mind," Michael grinned through the dark. Then he segued into the whole story, starting from the moment he met Elizabeth in the vents last night to this very moment.

"Well, you were right, I could definitely go for a drink," Henry chuckled morosely once Michael finished the story, but there was something more than bitterness in that laugh. Michael heard it and new at once that he had won. Although Henry's mental health was awful, he had not entirely lost the capacity to feel hope, determination and purpose, nor had he ever forgotten the beautiful little daughter that he had lost years ago. To hear Michael suggest that they might be able to save her, though he wanted to deny it and call Michael a fool, was far too promising for him to be able to do more than swallow nervously. He wasn't even able to come up with a real reaction, so confused were his emotions and so long had it been since last he'd felt any at all. His mind was a torrent and a haze and he didn't even know where to begin. Of course, the first emotion was disbelief in Michael, but the second, that was shockingly strong was hope, excitement. That was why he had no idea what to say or do in response to Michael's plan. Michael, however, understood and continued to coax the man gently.

"We can save them, Henry, we can save them both. It is possible! We can save two innocent lives, restore them to what they should've been, make at least a few things right again! Sure, it would be far easier to burn every Fazbear thing we can find, but what it easy is not always what is right. This will complicate things, I admit, but it just might be worth it in the long run, especially if it gives back to those who've lost so much because of us..." Michael trailed off and, in time, Henry finally agreed.

"Ok," he moaned, shoulders shaking slightly because he was crying at the thought of his long, lost, beloved Charlie. "I'll do it. I'll help. I'll help you save them," he promised and Michael smiled grimly before turning his head back towards their locked up pizzeria.

"Come on, then, we've got a big black bear to catch," he said and Henry rose unsteadily but squared his shoulders with resolve. Together, the two old comrades strode right back into that pizzeria and while one went to find and decommission the Lefty robot bear, the other returned to the vents to distract all of the others until Lefty could safely be removed from the building.

An hour later, the two men and metal bear were back home.

"Give me a sec," Michael got out of the car first. "Let me get my sister," then, with Henry and the decommissioned Lefty still in (or in Lefty's case, tied on) the car, Michael hobbled his way up the driveway and knocked on his skewered door.

"Michael?" Elizabeth's soft but excited voice asked. Michael could hear the wheels of her skates rumble against the ground as she rolled closer.

"It's me, and I've got Henry and Charlie too," Michael replied proudly, another lopsided grin forcing itself across his wrinkled, stretched face.

"You do?" Elizabeth poked her head out the door in excitement for Charlie, but still looked ready to roll away in case she saw Henry. The poor girl really was so certain that Henry would hate her for outliving Charlie, even if only for a few months.

"I need your help getting Charlie inside," Michael replied calmly. Although Elizabeth lacked eyebrows, Michael could tell she would've been raising them in disbelief if she'd had them.

"Are you sure?" she was still afraid of Henry.

"Charlie needs you," Michael replied. That did the trick and, after straightening herself up a bit again, Elizabeth squeezed her giant body out the door frame, a few more cracks spider-webbing out. Michael inwardly cringed at the sight, hoping that he would still have a front to his little suburban home by the time Lefty was shoved through the door...

Michael's wish was granted and Elizabeth was able to easily pick up Lefty's deactivated form. As big as Lefty was, Elizabeth was surprised to find that it was very light. She carried it right through the door with Henry behind her, looking up in awe, disbelief and something like happiness. Not a single bit of envy or bitterness was to be seen, contrary to Elizabeth's fears.

"Here we are," she muttered as she set the big black bear down gingerly. "Home sweet home..."

"Well, then, let's wake her up," Michael murmured, kneeling before Lefty's slumped over metal shell. "Elizabeth, pass me my monkey wrench," he commanded and the massive robot obediently brought him the toolkit he'd used to fix her up just 24 hours ago. Henry observed, silent and unreadable. Elizabeth felt uncomfortable beneath his impossible gaze, but she didn't even dare look him in the eye, let alone address him. Instead, she handed Michael his tool and watched as he began to pry Lefty's arm off. Wait. What?

"Don't hurt her!" Elizabeth reached out to stop Michael.

"I'm not," he reassured her with an amused look. "This isn't her real body. It's what lies inside, underneath."

"What?" Elizabeth drew her giant hand away from Michael in confusion. Michael only continued to grin mysteriously up at her before trying to pry Lefty's arm off again. It went against Elizabeth's instincts to let Michael do this, but she trusted him enough to let him do what he wanted to. The shoulder popped off easily. Too easily. Michael was right, this was not a real animatronic. Maybe it looked like one, but the arm plate had come off far too easily. And the endoskeleton underneath? It was long and striped black and white. It wasn't an endoskeleton at all! It was a whole other animatronic, in this case, Puppet/Marionette. But that explained why the shell had been so surprisingly light...

"She's Charlie?" Elizabeth breathed as Puppet's body was carefully removed from the Lefty shell.

"Yes," this time, it was Henry who answered. It was the first time he'd spoken since his conversation with Michael in the pizzeria parking lot. Once again, Elizabeth instinctively flinched away from his voice, but she tried to convince herself that he meant her no harm. Instead, despite his stony face, Elizabeth tried to meet his eyes respectfully as he continued to explain.

"We knew what my daughter had become from the get-go. She had, as it was so in her nature, become the guardian of the pizzeria, the Security Puppet bot, but we needed a way to bring her away from that pizzeria and into this new one. The only way she'd come was if we would trap her, in a different suit all together. Lefty. Lefty isn't just some weird name, though, it's an acronym. It's LEFTE: Lure, Encapsulate, Fuse, Transport, Extract. Lefty was built to bring Charlie right to us..." Henry trailed off, a real expression finally flickering across his aged face. The only problem was, it was an almost sadistic smile, not exactly the most comforting of expressions. But Elizabeth understood exactly why. If this new pizzeria had been nothing but a suicide mission from the get-go, what did it mean for Henry to be luring Charlie right into the heart of it all?

While Henry spoke with Elizabeth, Michael powered Puppet up and the eerily tall animatronic woke up right as Henry gave off that eerie grin. Before he could say more, however, Puppet's eyes blinked as it stood to its full height of nearly eight feet, nearly a foot taller than Elizabeth. The slow rise to its feet might've been more intimidating, had it not hit its head on the ceiling before it was entirely upright.

"Ow!" a very feminine little voice came out of the massive animatronic and three delighted voices cried out in reply.

"Charlie!" so, the mission had succeeded, and Charlie had been returned to them.

Unlike Elizabeth, Charlie had not required any maintenance. Her body was in much better shape and, because the animatronic that she inhabited was built to protect children, she was not in any danger of a negative programming trying to retake control of her mind. On the contrary, Charlie had an excellent relationship with the animatronic she shared a body with. Although it had also convinced her to become a killer, Charlie had found it a lot easier to become this way because, in both of their eyes, killing night guards would save children. Elizabeth had never been ok with this ultimatum, however, and Baby had never killed for justice, only vengeance. That was why Elizabeth and Baby had a very toxic relationship while Charlie and Puppet were able to share their body fairly.

So, since Puppet was more than happy to surrender control to Charlie, the moment Michael activated the animatronic, it was Charlie who was in control and it was Charlie who responded to the others.

"Daddy? And Circus Baby? And-" the moment her solid black eyes roved over Michael's body, a light suddenly illuminated them. Two pure white pupils appeared within the darkness of her eyes and she looked ready to attack. Michael was still in the night guard uniform and Charlie, on reflex, processed this as being the man who killed her long ago even though the idea was ludicrous. Puppet was thinking the same way and had retaken control, both it and Charlie aiming to kill Michael out of habit, seeing the uniform.

"Charlie! Wait!" Henry cried. Michael raised a feeble hand as Puppet lunged at him, moving as fast and gracefully as a snake.

"NO!" it was Elizabeth who actually made a difference, however, skating over to Michael at an impossibly fast speed for such a tiny starting space. She scooped him up easily with one hand and then turned with impossibly impeccable control right back around. She reached out a heavy arm and Puppet's lunge-attack was stopped the moment its white face crashed into Elizabeth's outstretched hand.

"No, Charlie, no," Elizabeth muttered as Puppet slumped to the ground. "This is not the man you are looking for. This is my brother, Michael. You remember him. He's a good guy now, he's trying to help us, to save us. He's not the enemy, Charlie, he's a friend. Let him go..." she continued to speak softly to Puppet until those white pupils dimmed away again and only the solid black eyes remained.

"Michael?" Charlie sounded a bit disbelieving and hostile, but seeing that Circus Baby was too big to defeat on strength alone, she accepted this temporary defeat and got slowly back up, eyes never leaving Michael's face. "Is it true?" she demanded her voice was but a soft and gentle whisper, but the hostility and distrust was clear.

"Yes, it is," Michael responded calmly, legs shaking but voice flat. He was actually terrified, heart still pounding from such a close call, but he was used to trying to look calm and collected. When he spoke, Elizabeth seemed to remember that he was still in her hand and she set him back down on his own two feet apologetically. "Yes, Charlie, it's me," Michael continued. "I know it may seem strange, but trust me. Just let me explain..."

Charlie's reaction to the story was much like Henry's had been: disbelieving, bitter and hopeful.

"So you mean that you can save me? That you can get me out of here? You can fix me? Us? And this nightmare will finally be over?" she muttered.

"Yes," Michael vowed. "If you will let your father and I help, we will fix both of you..." he swung his head back and forth between the two giant robots, silently asking their permission. They gave it willingly, still a bit uncertain about all of this, but not willing to turn down such a chance without at least giving it a try. Freedom was a very tempting offer, and if they thought it was possible, they were going to go for it.

It took quite awhile but, using leftover profit from the new Fazbear pizzeria, Henry and Michael were able to get enough cash to rebuild Charlie and Elizabeth, giving them those promised, newer, better bodies. Piece by piece, Henry and Michael bought up the machinery they needed and, one by one, they put Charlie and Elizabeth both back together. Once the two bodies were ready, Charlie and Elizabeth both willed their souls from their current residence to these new forms. They were still uncertain as to how this was possible or how they were able to transmit their souls from vessel to vessel, but they didn't need to know how it worked to know that it did.

Suddenly, Charlie looked more like a little girl and less like a spindly human. Her new body was taller than even the average man, but it was evenly proportioned now and looked a lot like what she might've looked like had she survived long enough to enter her college years. Elizabeth's new body was almost the exact same, made of the same parts put in the same place and order. The only difference was in the features. Charlie was given short brown hair with blue eyes while Elizabeth's long, fiery locks and bright emerald eyes were put into her new body. Charlie's skin was a few tones darker than Elizabeth's and she was in different clothes, but other than that, the girls were identical, and they were beautiful!

"Wow! Michael! Thank you so much!" Charlie gushed, admiring her new home. She twisted her head, inspecting all of her newer, shorter limbs. She tested her legs as well before lunging forward again, though this time, it was to hug Michael instead of attack. Michael stumbled in surprise, buckling slightly under her weight, but he was so touched by the true adoration he felt within that hug that he embraced her back as hard as his arms would allow. He hugged her tighter and tighter, tears starting to slide down his wrinkly and decaying cheeks.

"Thank you!" Charlie continued to murmur. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" then

Then, the moment she was done hugging Michael, she launched herself into her father's arms while Elizabeth replaced Charlie.

"Oh, my brother, my biggest, bestest brother! You put me back together again, just like you'd promised! I can never repay you..." she murmured into Michael's shoulder as she hugged him as tightly as she dared. He could hear the tears in her voice even though her new anatomy did not allow for physical crying. A couple feet away, Henry was absolutely sobbing, bawling, into Charlie's new shoulder, beyond relieved and amazed that he'd actually been able to save her after all. His bliss was so strong that it was almost delusional and, just for a second, he could've sworn that if William Afton, the man truly responsible for all of this death and despair, were to walk into this house right now, Henry would forgive him in an instant, no questions asked. But this, of course, was all hypothetical.

Maybe the new bodies were done, maybe Elizabeth and Charlie had been put back together again, but there was still the question of what to do with the bodies they left behind, and what to do with the pizzeria itself.

"Are we going to finish what we started?" Henry asked Michael in private. He'd tricked Elizabeth and Charlie into going off to the mall, now looking real enough to pass as humans despite still being animatronics. With them gone, however, the two men could speak of these dark but important topics without concerning the girls. They might've had the bodies of adults now, but they were still very much like children and Henry wanted to talk things out with Michael before telling them anything at all.

"I don't know," Michael responded honestly. "I mean, I know we need to get rid of William, Circus Baby and the other animatronics, so I still think we should go on and torch the place, but I almost don't want you to come along with me tonight."

"What? Why not?" Henry frowned in confusion, looking much healthier ever since he'd been able to put his daughter back together again.

"Well, because, I don't think that I'm going to throw myself away anymore than I threw Elizabeth and Charlie away, but I don't want to be the only one that looks after them after the sunrises the next day," Michael admitted. It was a vague statement, but Henry understood what Michael was implying at once and he shook his head.

"Don't worry, Michael, I wouldn't dream of it now. Let me help you, I'll be there for support. We can help each other escape, then we'll finally be able to clock out of that awful place and never clock back in," he smiled dryly and Michael decided that Henry was being honest.

"Offer accepted," he said and the two men shook on it. Now all they had to do was wait for their night shift, the last night shift, to begin.

Upon the day when Charlie and Elizabeth's new bodies had been made ready for them to enter, Henry and Michael had intentionally deactivated Circus Baby and Puppet as soon as possible. After that, while the girls got used to their new forms, the men returned their old ones back to the pizzeria. What happened after was quite amusing. Circus Baby had gone mad with rage, violent with fury, that she was being returned to this awful place with Elizabeth somehow free from her influence. Although her voice was programmed to be soft and smooth, she still managed to spit venom at the two men the moment they woke her back up and she found herself unarmed and back in that horrible pizzeria.

"You will pay for this, you will all pay for this, I swear it!" she murmured, chasing after them and pounding through the vents despite being totally unarmed and now ill-equipped to fight. Before she could get to them, however, Puppet had grabbed her ankle with its long, spindly fingers and dragged her right back out of the vent. Although it was clear Puppet didn't like being back here anymore than Baby did, it seemed to understand why enough to agree and protect Henry and Michael from Baby's wrath. For the next few days, as the two men finalized their plans, while Baby became increasingly aggressive, Puppet would work from the shadows and try to keep them safe, but then at last, that fateful day arrived...

At the end of the nightshift, with all of the animatronics closing in on the intentionally open and vulnerable security office, Henry finally revealed himself to the other animatronics. Although Baby and Puppet knew of his existence and role within this new pizzeria, neither of them knew where he disappeared off to every day because, while Michael remained as the most visible employee of the pizzeria, Henry just kind of went underground and disappeared. But tonight?

"You have all been called here into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize. You don't even realize that you're trapped. Your lust for blood has driven you in endless circles, chasing the cries of children in some unseen chamber always seeming so near, yet somehow out of reach. But you will never find them, none of you will. This is where your story ends. It's time to rest: for you, and for those you have carried into your arms. This ends for all of us. End communication," Henry growled into his cassette tape with savage and sadistic, satisfaction. All during his spiel, he'd started the fire meant to burn this pizzeria to the ground forever. The rooms all slowly got hotter and hotter. Michael had deeply enjoyed the disbelief and anger from the animatronics but now, with the danger very real and coming at him from all sides, it was time to go.

"Henry! Come on!" Michael managed to escape through a vent that none of the animatronics were near. He fled down the hall until he found the passage to the basement where Henry was waiting. He extended a bony and deadened arm that Henry took willingly. The two then helped each other to survive the inferno and escape even as the pizzeria was destroyed all around them.

"Oh no you don't!" a soft, gentle voice hummed and a burning metal hand clamped down on Michael's shoulder. It was Circus Baby. The lower half of her body was mostly melted and her hairs had singed off and her wires were sparking from the overheating, but she still had the strength for one last attack. "No you don't. You don't leave us. You don't leave us here. You will burn with usssss!" she hissed, dragging both of the men back towards the center of the pizzeria where the fire was burning the hottest.

"Henry! Go!" Michael commanded, then he shoved Henry away from himself and Baby with the last of his strength, but Henry refused.

"I'm not leaving you!" he thundered. He tried to grab at Baby, but her metal shell was too hot to hold, not that Henry's strength would ever be a concern to Baby. She only scoffed at him, a distorted sound that erupted from her melting voice box, and continued to drag Michael backward.

Moments before Michael touched the hungry tongues of fire, however, something struck Baby's head clean off of its shoulders. Baby's hand released its hold on Michael at once, but before he could collapse out of shock, heat, and smoke inhalation, he felt another hand picking him up like a ragdoll and he was suddenly high in the air. The feeling of being carried forward again was the last thing Michael felt before finally fainting. He thought he could see Henry's amazed face through the smoke, but it was far too hard to tell and Michael was too tired to keep on looking. Instead, he let the hand of fate continue to carry him away, higher and further out, Baby's body burning to ash behind him.

The next time Michael woke up, he was back in his own little room in his own little house. It looked like a totally normal day. The only thing that made it weird was the two female robots sitting at the foot of his bed, the old man at his side, and the tall, spindly humanoid standing in the corner of his room. None of it made sense and Michael passed out again not long after taking in one quick survey of his room.

Michael continued to dip in and out of consciousness for a good time more but at last, there came a time when he woke up and managed to stay that way. From what he was told, once he was finally able to comprehend speech again, was that Puppet had saved him and Henry at the last second, scooping them up in its powerful arms and carrying them safely to the doors. The fire had not yet reached this far, but it was getting really close. Henry unlocked the door at the very last second and ushered himself, Michael and Puppet to safety. Although Henry was pretty weak as well, he was strong enough to get himself, Michael and Puppet all in/on the car and drive far enough away that the fire would not reach them there. He passed out not long after, however, and that left Puppet to carry them home. Luckily, once Henry was strong enough, he was able to find the car again and drive it home proper. He, Elizabeth, Charlie and Puppet had been waiting inside the house for Michael to wake up ever since.

"So is it over? Is the nightmare finally over?" Michael rasped. Were all the robots, minus Puppet, truly and finally gone?

"Yes, I think it is," Henry murmured, a true look of pride crossing his wrinkly face. "And it's all thanks to you, my boy. You are a son any father should be proud of," he added. It was the first time anyone had ever heard him compliment anyone so sincerely or look so genuinely happy and proud. Michael suddenly felt embarrassed and shy and, if he had been able to, he would've blushed. Elizabeth giggled at the sight while Charlie only nodded in agreement with what her father had said. It did her metal heart good to see and hear him looking so genuinely happy again after being broken and bitter for decades on end. Puppet, meanwhile, continued to watch over them all from its place in the corner. Puppet, it seemed, was going to join their little family now too, but after its daring rescue of Henry and Michael, such an idea was totally fine by everyone.

So that was where and how it began. A new life for this new family. It was a strange life, to be sure, but it was a strange family (one co-leader being a very old man who could build possessable robots, the other co-leader being an undead entity, two of the members being the souls of little girls inhabiting robotic bodies of young adults, and the fifth and final member being a semi-sentient guard robot that looked like a human spider), so things evened out in the end. Henry and Michael found new jobs to support the family and house, the girls were allowed a few years to enjoy the life they had before they, too, found jobs (with the possibility of going to school still on the horizon) and Puppet becoming something of a housekeeper, its protective programming making it feel naturally inclined to look after things within its care, houses included. So while it was a very odd family, it was also a very happy one and they all managed to get by with the love and support of the others. At long last, what was once five broken individuals had become one reborn family, put back together again by nothing short of the strongest, sheerest determinations and love.

 **AN: Dardmulzombie, I hope you're happy. ; ) But nah, it's all good, this was fun to write even though I wish it wasn't so long. I just hope all my readers like it and think it wrapped up the story well enough. Thx again to all my readers and reviewers and special thx to Penroses for inspiring me to write this.**


	3. Salvage

**AN: This is an AU on the previous chapter, not a continuation. Here, I use the theory that the Original 5 Dead Children are in Molten F. and were not freed in FNAF 3.**

"You did it, Michael, you did it. You really did it," Henry murmured in awe, approval and reverence, clapping an aged hand upon a bony shoulder. Henry was blinking rapidly, fighting back tears and trembling, trying so hard to control himself, but it wasn't easy, not with his daughter standing before him once again. After decades of being alone, of having nothing but a memory of her, somehow, he and this fine young man (well, _younger_ , though he was not necessarily young himself either) had brought her back. They had saved her. Against all odds, they found her restless spirit and managed not only to capture, but to subdue it, reason with it, and get it into a new body. Now she was there, once more, with her father, only inches away, though her eyes were still shut. Neither Henry nor Michael had powered her new body up yet, but now was the moment of truth.

"Care to do the honors?" Michael asked, gesturing to the robot standing in front of Henry. Henry nodded, unable to speak, then he took a timid step forward. It was so out of character for him. Although his step had never been very bold before, it had always been certain. Even at his lowest, the moment Charlie died, Henry walked with a certainty that he'd never had before. It was the certainty of one with nothing less to lose, but now he did have a lot to lose, and so much more to gain. He was afraid now, shy, his resigned certainty gone. He was hardly aware of Michael walking forward with him, walking towards another robot. This robot was another one he and Henry had co-created, only this one was Michael's little sister: Elizabeth. So, while Henry activated Charlie, Michael activated Elizabeth. Brown and green came to light.

"It worked! It really worked!" the robots cheered at once and those cries were echoed by the two relieved men standing in front of them.

From that day onward, Elizabeth and Charlie were reunited with their long-lost relatives and blessed with new and functioning bodies that were entirely their own. It was something both of them were eternally grateful for, but there came a day when Charlie had one more thing to ask.

"Believe me, you both have done us a service that could never be repaid," she promised her father and his friend. "But there is something else that you should know. There are others, other innocents, still within that pizzeria. They deserve and desire freedom just as much as Elizabeth and I did. Do you think you could save them as well? I would be glad to assist in any way possible, just as long as you promise you'll try and help them to salvation as well. Promise me you'll try? You'll salvage their souls from that awful place too?"

And although, initially, Michael and Henry had both been against such a risky operation, Charlie's pleading eventually won them over and they agreed. They postponed their final plan once more and built five more humanoid bodies, then they managed to sneak Molten Freddy, the animatronic that Charlie had been referring to, out of the pizzeria and back home.

"I'm going to need to get a bigger house!" Michael grunted as he and Henry dragged the massive mess of wires, rods, bars and electrodes up the driveway and to the doorway. The two of them struggled to get Molten Freddy off the car and into the house.

Henry was a physically large fellow and had very strong muscles after spending years working with robotic parts, but even he was struggling under the weight of the spider-like Molten Freddy and Michael, who literally had next to no muscles at all, wasn't able to do much more. Charlie and Elizabeth were a bit stronger, having muscles of wire and metal, but as their bodies were far smaller than before when they were still trapped inside Circus Baby and Puppet, they weren't as strong as they used to be either.

"Especially if you keep bringing more of these freaks home," Henry agreed with dark amusement as they drag-carried Freddy onward.

"Don't worry, Dad, this is the last of them," Charlie promised gently. Henry's expression softened in reply.

"Don't worry, darling," he replied. "If you really believe that we can save them, I'll bring as many home as possible."

"This one is the last one," Charlie promised again, shaking her head at her father's offer, though she was very grateful for his acceptance.

At last, the quartet managed to get Molten Freddy into the house.

"Wait! Watch the paint job, watch the paint job, watch the paint job!" Michael warned suddenly. They managed to get Molten Freddy's head through the door, but his shoulders, which were splayed out, were at risk of tearing through the doorway again. Michael tried to slow Molten Freddy's progress, but his warnings came too late and both Elizabeth and Charlie happily continued to push him through the doorway, creating yet another hole in the doorframes, though it was smaller than the one that Elizabeth, herself, created back when she was still stuck in Baby's big body.

"Ooops," Henry snorted at the little crash and subsequent scraping as Molten Freddy's shoulders were shoved through the doorway.

"And we just fixed that!" Michael moaned unhappily as the rest of Molten Freddy's spidery body was forcibly shoved inside, his "hips" creating the same problem his shoulders had, only because his hips had been oriented at a slightly lower angle, yet another two holes were created in Michael's once-newly-repaired-and-now-re-destroyed doorframe. Michael made another noise of pain as those second set of holes appeared, wood splintering inward and paint forcibly peeled off by the splintering wood, new cracks running up, down and along the outer wall of the house.

"Oops," Elizabeth and Charlie both echoed once they finally turned around to see the fresh damage done to Michael's house.

"I don't know why I even bother," he sighed. The whole interior of that wall was still covered in those thin, webbed cracks from Baby because Michael had yet to find the time and money to repair those, since most of what he did have was spent on making new robot bodies.

"Don't worry, son, we'll get it fixed eventually," Henry promised with a smirk as he joined Michael to inspect the broken door and walls. "And maybe this time, we'll get a halfway decent paint job. Could you have picked an uglier pattern?" he was half-joking, half-serious.

"Yeah!" Elizabeth suddenly piped up from where she was standing with Charlie, still trying to get Molten Freddy's deactivated body situated. "The black and white stripes make it look like some kind of old madhouse!" she declared.

"Well, to be honest, isn't that what this place is now?" Michael snorted, watching his sister and her friend still wrestling with Freddy's body.

"Ha! True, true," Elizabeth laughed, a sound that was echoed by Charlie and Henry.

Following a little bit more banter and a lot more of trying to maneuver Molten Freddy into Michael's tiny, dingy living room, the moment of truth finally arrived. It was time to activate him and see if they could contact the spirits trapped inside.

"Michael, Henry, I advise you to get out for right now," Charlie said once Molten Freddy and the five new robotic bodies were in place.

"What? Why?" the two men protested, but Charlie only raised a hand and spoke calmly once more.

"Remember, the spirits of broken and miserable children still reside within that body. If they see you, they might not see you as you really are. Pain and terror have blinded them, warped their minds. It's nothing personal. They don't hate you, but you need to stay out of their way."

"Yes ma'am," Michael muttered in reply as Charlie slowly lowered her hand once more. He still had a hard time with rationalizing the fact that she was so impossibly mature, despite her young age (both in body and soul, though clearly not in mind). Then both he and Henry stepped away obediently, hiding quietly in the next room as Charlie, and Elizabeth, who had refused to leave Charlie's side, approached Molten Freddy.

"Hahahahahaha! Oh, what a pleasant surprise!" Molten Freddy's all-too-familiar laughter roared around the entire house, shrieking and psychotic, choppy and entirely horrific.

"Freddy! Enough!" Charlie puffed out her chest and stood as tall as she could. In Puppet form, that was a daunting eight feet. Now it was only about 5'9". Now, that was still rather tall for a young woman, but it was nothing compared to eight feet. Despite this, however, Charlie continued to stand against Molten Freddy. Even as his head raised up, high above her own, his broken jaw opening to reveal sparking wires and twisted, pointed pieces of metal that were like teeth, Charlie continued to stand quietly before him, unafraid.

"And what are yooooou going to do about it?! Hahahahaha!" Molten Freddy rotated his head upside-down to accent the question.

"Let those children go!" Charlie replied.

"Whaaaaaat child-child-children?!" Molten Freddy sang, voice glitching a little.

"You know who I'm talking about," Charlie continued to stare down Molten Freddy. Freddy only wagged his head in mocking denial.

Then at last, he seemed to notice Elizabeth. He let out another wild guffaw of laughter.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise!" he repeated. "We'll be together again!"

"Enough, Freddy," now it was Elizabeth's turn to stand up. Arms crossed and green eyes unblinking, she mimicked Charlie's stance perfectly.

"Do yooou remem-em-em-ber me?" Freddy's voice began to glitch, but the psychotic glee within it was still very audible, as always.

"Of course I do," Elizabeth replied. "But do you remember me? Like, really remember? And do you remember me? Or do you remember Baby?" "Of course we remember her! And you!" Molten Freddy sneered. "You were the little brat that ruined us! That got us locked up and shut down for years! You were the one that ruined Baby!" Molten Freddy raised one of his twisted, razor-sharp claw-paws as though to strike.

"I didn't ruin Baby. She, like you, was ruined from the start," Elizabeth interrupted, sounding almost like a little child again, a defensive whine rising up in her voice as she pouted up at the giant amalgamation of metal and wire.

"What?" Molten Freddy rasped in anger and surprise, lowering his paw in pure surprise at Elizabeth's audacity.

"You heard me!" Elizabeth insisted, arms still crossed and chest still puffed. "You all know you were designed to be killers from the start. It was not my fault, but I will admit it wasn't yours either," that was when the compassion became very clear in her voice.

"It was my father's fault. You all remember him, don't you?" she asked. Molten Freddy reared his head back and began to shake in anger.

"Of course we remember him!" he snarled, but just for a moment, Elizabeth thought she could hear other voices, and she recognized all of them.

"Ballora, Foxy, Freddy," she said. "I can still hear you, I know you are there. I know my father hurt you, he was a bad man, he made you broken from the start to satisfy his own sick, twisted agenda, but now I implore you! Give up your spirits. They don't belong to you. You don't have to be like this. We can fix you, salvage you. You don't have to remain as these vessels of hatred for all time. We can fix you!"

Slowly, Charlie joined in Elizabeth's pleading, appealing to the children trapped inside of Molten Freddy while Elizabeth addressed the animatronics. It didn't do much more than waste time but, at last, something finally changed. Elizabeth, growing desperate for this standoff to end and for someone to make the first move, dared to mention Michael to the abomination still threatening her.

"You remember him too?" she asked, though she knew that the answer was yes even before Molten Freddy nodded his head, facial plates flapping.

"Well, he's the one that's going to offer you salvation, if you let him. He can help..."

Michael heard Elizabeth mention his name. Moments later, Charlie mentioned Henry. The two men exchanged glances and nodded once before rising up from their hiding place in Michael's tiny, dingy, dirty, underused kitchen (before Henry came along, the only machine in the kitchen that was ever used was the microwave for popcorn) and heading back towards the living room. The two emerged side by side, taking the same stance as Charlie and Elizabeth. Molten Freddy raised his head, waggling it again in further excitement when he saw the two men.

"Ahhh! Together again! We'll be one biiiiig happy family!" he howled in delight, suddenly barreling forward with impossibly swift speed.

"No!" Charlie and Elizabeth both lunged forward and slammed into Molten Freddy. They were able to actually slow him down quite a bit and Molten Freddy snarled in surprise and anger as he came to a sudden halt. He tried to extend a limb to swipe at Michael and Henry, but he fell short.

"Come here! Come here! Come here, you little brat!" Freddy sing-songed, taking a few more swipes at Michael and Henry.

"You won't touch them," Elizabeth snarled determinedly, locking her arms tighter around Molten Freddy as she dug her feet into the ground as hard as she could. She was holding onto the front right part of Molten Freddy while Charlie was holding onto the side left of him.

"Controlled shock! Controlled shock!" Charlie was the first one to remember. Those words were enough to cause Molten Freddy to back up just a little, but Charlie continued to scream this command until Michael finally understood. He hobble-ran back into the kitchen on his shaky legs, grabbed his toaster, and pushed the button down before throwing it to Elizabeth. Elizabeth caught it solidly in one hand and she and Charlie both jumped off of Molten Freddy as Elizabeth managed to shove one of Freddy's metal parts into the toaster.

The shock wasn't even a fraction of what Molten Freddy would've been used to from a taser, but the shock alone scared him regardless of voltage and because Elizabeth had jammed his metal wires into the toaster, the shock did not cease after one little jolt. Instead, he had to fling his limb wildly until the toaster flew off, and into the wall, for the shock to end.

"Not again!" Michael, even in the face of danger, couldn't help but quip as the toaster shot off of Molten Freddy and into the wall about a foot away from his front door, creating another massive hole and several cracks within that wall. Henry also laughed despite the seriousness of the moment. Both of them had faced off against these robots too often to be too frightened by them anymore.

Freddy suddenly ceased moving a few seconds after the toaster had flown off of his limb. He went totally still and silent.

"Freddy? Are you still there?" Elizabeth was the first one to notice and act upon this strange new silence. She even took a tentative step forward. In the same way Charlie pitied the children trapped inside Molten Freddy, Elizabeth pitied the animatronics. Although she knew they had been programmed to kill, she didn't hold that against them. She knew what murderous compulsion felt like and she could never blame them for having those feelings. Heck, there were even times when she pitied Baby, because although Baby was very manipulative and abusive and even less deserving of pity than the other Sister Location bots, she was still just as much a slave to programming and victim to William as anyone else. It was just because Baby had been especially merciless that Elizabeth had always known that no one would ever be able to reason with her. But maybe Ballora and the Funtimes could be salvaged? Maybe they weren't as bad as Baby? It was worth a try...

Suddenly, Molten Freddy began to twitch and move again. Elizabeth jumped back on reflex while Michael and Henry both stepped forward, ready to protect her and Charlie if it came to that, but no, it was not Molten Freddy who answered this time, not really.

"Charlie?" one of the voices asked, and Charlie's eyes widened. It sounded like a little girl!

"Cassidy!" she exclaimed as she recognized the voice, then four others all cried out to Charlie and she covered her mouth in pure shock. So it had worked and she had been right. Not only were all five souls there, but they had been able to override Molten Freddy's programming because the shock had scared him into submission.

The rest of the plan went much smoother. With Molten Freddy in something like a deactivation period, too scared to fight, the children were able to quickly flee his body and each land in their own new vessels, which had been lined up against the far wall the whole time. Then, the moment the last of the five children had escaped, Henry and Michael both lunged at Molten Freddy, deactivating him at once.

"So, do you think we can salvage that guy?" Michael exhaled in relief once Molten Freddy's eyes ceased to glow.

"I don't know," Elizabeth replied. It was clear such an idea pained her, but she was not so idealistic that she believed that every single Fazbear creation could be saved. She was just glad that she, Charlie, and these five other innocents had been spared. Speaking of which...

While Michael and Henry had dealt with Molten Freddy, Charlie had made a bee line to the five robots standing at the far wall. Although all the robots were totally still and silent, she could sense a new energy pulsing within them now. The transfer of souls had been a success! Now all she had to do was power them up!

"Charlie!" five happy voice sighed in unison as they were all activated and Charlie smiled right back at them in relief and triumph. She turned her own robotic head to face Elizabeth, Henry and Michael. All three of them were smiling wide enough to reach all the way from here to the pizzeria. Those five little souls had comfortable bodies to call their own once more.

First was Gabriel, who had been Freddy Fazbear himself. His body was compact and strong, short brown hair and bright blue eyes. Next was Jeremy, who had been Bonnie. His new body had short, spiky black hair and his eyes were the same shade. Then was Susie, who had been Chica, with golden hair and blue eyes. Fourth was Fritz, messy brown hair and bright brown eyes and his new body even had some freckles scattered across his face. Then lastly was Cassidy, a girl with black hair and eyes. Every single new body was built to look like the original body of the child and from their delighted reactions, this goal had been more than accomplished.

For the next week, while Henry and Charlie welcomed the five restored children to their new homes, Michael and Elizabeth continued to try and reason with Molten Freddy. They, after securing him down under pounds and pounds of chains and trying to remove some of his more hostile programming, awaked him once more and spent countless hours trying to talk him down. Back and forth, on and on, both of the surviving Aftons tried to get Molten Freddy to repent of his murderous sins, but no amount of pleading or reprogramming swayed his mind. Every animatronic within him continued to stubbornly insist that murder was all they were made for and it was all they ever wanted to do. Even after being presented with a variety of other options, all of them refused to accept any offer. In the end, Elizabeth was forced to forfeit and she allowed Michael and Henry to take Molten Freddy back to the pizzeria to be burned with the rest of them. It really did pain her deeply to see them go, but she still wasn't going to just let them live if they refused to give up their murderous agenda.

One night-shift later, Michael and Henry came home, but not on their own two feet. Instead, they came in the arms of Puppet.

"Puppet!" Charlie was the first to see it, long and lanky, slinking up the driveway with the two men in its arms. "Dad?!"

"Michael!" Elizabeth, who had come running the moment she heard Charlie cry out about Puppet, panicked when she realized one of the men in Puppet's arms was her own brother. She then brushed past Charlie right up to Puppet. She began to panic, making crying noises although no tears escaped her robotic eyes. She pleaded for Michael, holding his lifeless hand as Puppet continued to carry him towards the house.

The other five children all poked their heads out in concern and confusion.

"What's going on? What happened?" Susie, the first one to recognize Puppet, whimpered, clinging to Charlie.

"It's Michael and Henry," Charlie murmured grimly. She managed to keep a calm façade, but it was clear she was terrified for her father's sake.

"What happened?" Jeremy was next to appear, clinging to Susie.

"The fire, it must've gotten out of control," Charlie muttered as Puppet, with Elizabeth clinging to one of its long, thin arms, came up the driveway.

"Let me see!" Fritz demanded, following in Elizabeth's footsteps and running out the door over to Elizabeth and Puppet. Gabriel didn't say a word but he, like Fritz, stepped forward, though he didn't quite go as far as Fritz had.

At last, Puppet reached the doorway. It looked down at Charlie and an understanding passed between the two of them. Charlie knew at once that Puppet was a good guy, a friend who had offered salvation to Henry and Michael despite not needing to. Puppet could be trusted, Puppet would be safe to house here, unlike Baby or Molten Freddy. There was no hostility within Puppet unless its charges were harmed.

"Come in," Charlie insisted. Puppet handed Michael in first, but Elizabeth and Fritz snatched him up at once, carrying him inside. Next, Puppet handed over Henry. Gabriel, who had been the last to arrive on the scene, took care of him with Charlie. After that, Puppet was forced to bend over by about a foot in order to fit into the door. Once inside, it could stand up again, though its head was continually hitting the ceiling. It looked down at the dingy hut all of these new, strange little human-bots inhabited, perplexed and fascinated. It seemed that Michael and Henry had been trying to save the children. This pleased Puppet and it knew it had made a wise decision, trying to salvage them from the fire. It continued to watch as the little human-bots darted around, bringing in every resource they had to help Henry and Michael back to life.

Fritz ran the fasts, bouncing all over the place, fetching medicines, bandages and water. Gabriel helped issue commands with Charlie. Jeremy, Susie and Cassidy, who had not come out to see the arrival of Puppet, sat by Michael and Henry, administering the medicines and bandages that Fritz returned with. Meanwhile, Puppet oversaw the proceedings, standing in front of the door, protecting all inside the house.

It took about a week, but at the end of it, both men were able to stand up again. Henry had recovered first, returning with Puppet to what remained of the pizzeria (nothing but ash and metal scraps) in order to fetch Michael's car which they had left upon the night that they burned the pizzeria to the ground. A few days after that, Michael finally woke up as well.

"Thank goodness!" Elizabeth murmured, hugging him as gently as she could. She wanted to hug him with all her strength, but she understood that, being made entirely of metal, she could never hug too hard, lest she hurt him. In a time like this, she had to be especially delicate, though it went against her first instinct. Charlie, meanwhile, was nuzzling her father. Although no one could hear what they were saying, it wasn't hard to guess. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants were eagerly watching.

"So is it gone? Is it really gone?" Gabriel asked in something almost like disbelief.

"Yes, Gabe, it is. Gone. All gone," Michael promised him and Gabriel's face split into a massive smile.

"Cool! But tell me! How did it burn!? Did you see any of the robots as they died?" Fritz demanded excitedly.

"Fritz!" Cassidy hushed the overly-excited bot-boy. "Shhhhh. You can't ask those things yet. Let Michael rest!" she put a gentle hand on Fritz's shoulder and pulled him back. He looked like he wanted to protest, but he said nothing, choosing instead to let Cassidy lead him away. Cassidy tried to get Fritz to join her and Susie in the kitchen where they were trying to make Michael and Henry some real food that wasn't just popcorn slathered in exotic butters, but Fritz chose instead to join Jeremy who was busy playing on Michael's computer. Although he had been just as traumatized the night Henry and Michael were brought home in the arms of Puppet, since he knew that both men were safe now, he had since gone back to messing around with his videogames, making up for lost time as he claimed.

Gabriel, meanwhile, continued to study Michael with interest, still hardly able to believe that this man had followed them around for so long. Was this really the same guy he'd met years ago at the very first little restaurant? In the back of his wired mind, Gabriel could still hear strains of the Toreador March every time he looked at Michael. How much he regretted those times... But finally being free from the agony of those bodies that were never meant to be had given the boy a new perspective and although he was still very bitter about the life he'd lost, he was no longer trapped in rage and hatred. Instead, he was finally moving forward while also returning to something like the little boy he used to be long ago.

In time, Michael and Henry healed up. Their bodies repaired themselves from the fire and their minds and souls were put to rest with the notion that after so very long, Fazbear was finally history. Every last robot had been burned down to the ground with the ashes of the pizzeria sealing them in their underground tombs. What was even more satisfying, though, was knowing that while the robots were finally and truly gone, impossible to dig up and repair ever again, the innocent children who had been trapped inside of them were finally free. They were finally receiving the life they had lost long ago. Maybe it wasn't in the most ideal of ways, but it was better than nothing and it was definitely what they were owed.

From then on, then, Michael and Henry became the fathers of a family they never would ever imagined having, Elizabeth, Charlie, Gabriel, Susie, Jeremy, Cassidy and Fritz all acting as their little ones, finally getting to see and explore the world instead of just staring at it through the finger-print stained glass of a nightmarish pizzeria. At long last, all of them were finally free to live in a world outside of Fazbear's.

"It was just like Molten Freddy said," Elizabeth had murmured to Charlie, Cassidy and Susie once as they enjoyed something of a lady's night out. Though they were young in body, they were also very physically durable, hence why Michael and Henry were ok with them roaming the town alone at night. "We're all one big happy family."

"Yes we are," Charlie agreed, wrapping an affectionate arm around her oldest and closest companion. Elizabeth still sometimes seemed shy and averse to such open affection, a trait she shared with Michael, but as she was finally learning to forgive herself, these reserves were melting away. Susie, who stood on the other side of Elizabeth, agreed eagerly and hugged Elizabeth as well, coming to see her and Charlie as big sisters, despite the fact that Susie had actually been older than either of them when she died (though she had still technically been born after Charlie and Elizabeth). Next to join in the hug was Cassidy, who had been standing between Charlie and Elizabeth. All four of the young female robots stood there under the light of the moon, embracing.

Fritz, Gabriel, Jeremy, Henry, Michael and Puppet (who had since joined the family as an honorary member for saving Henry and Michael and proving itself to be docile) were all still at home, having a Dude's Stay-At-Home, as Jeremy and Fritz had named it. The three of them were trying to figure out a new game system that Henry had since bought, but as the new system had required a newer TV than what Michael had, it was quite a time trying to figure out how each component worked individually, and then as one whole unit. Henry was trying to show his three robotic sons what to do, but as he was more in the business of robots, he wasn't sure what to do either. Puppet only watched from its corner, as always, protecting its new family. It also enjoyed a silent laugh at the family's expense as they fiddled around with their newfangled gadgets.

"Michael?" Henry asked helplessly, looking up from the game box to Michael.

"Don't look at me!" Michael raised his hands. "Last videogame I played was on a GameBoy!"

"Sheesh! You're old!" Gabriel chuckled as he and Jeremy tried to get the controllers to function.

"Excuse you!" Michael's eyes narrowed, but since Gabriel knew Michael was teasing, he only laughed.

At last, however, the system was successfully installed and integrated with the TV and the boys managed to start their game.

"That took far too long!" Henry sighed as he finally got off the floor and back onto the couch with Michael, slumping down in relief.

"Well, we got all the parts together in the end, that's all that matters," Michael smiled meaningfully and Henry nodded despite himself. Sometime later, then, after Jeremy, Gabriel and Fritz had been playing for awhile (they had tried to invite Puppet, but its fingers were too long and it ultimately decided that it preferred to just watch them instead), Henry added in one more joking line.

"You have completed the salvage, well done," and Michael laughed in reply.

 **AN: So there you go, Darmudzombie, your AU to the second chapter of this fic. As you can see, this time, the 5 original children also come home with Michael, Henry, Charlie and Elizabeth. Hope this met your wishes and I apologize if I used something that you didn't consider canon.**


	4. No Tricks, All Treats

"Happy Halloween, kids!" Michael grinned as he limped into his little old house.

"Mikey!" seven young, happy voices met him, the speakers being the seven robotic children he and one of his coworkers, Henry, were raising together. The seven robotic children ran to Michael, each eagerly going up to embrace him. He laughed loudly, a full and warm sound as he gave each and every child his or her own hug. It had been a long time since he'd felt so full and even longer since he could remember ever feeling even a semblance of love. These children were, though they didn't realize it, slowly rebuilding him piece by piece, the same way he had rebuilt them.

"What did you bring us? What did you bring us?!" Fritz was the first to pull away from Michael's embrace, hopping from foot to foot in excitement. He, like the others, had known about Michael's intention to throw them a Halloween party for quite awhile, but that was all any of them had known. Now, they were getting to see just what Michael had been planning and all of their patience was running thin.

"Ok, ok, take it easy, take it easy!" Michael laughed deeply again, the sound reaching from the bottom of his stomach and filling the air around him. He tried to shoo his seven children away as he stepped further into the house. He'd tied his "No Tricks, All Treats" bag to his back and the children were hungry to see what was inside.

"Come on, come on! Back up! Back up!" Jeremy dragged Gabriel and Charlie backwards. "Give the man some space!" but it wasn't simple politeness that led Jeremy to be this way. He just really wanted to see what Michael had got them, and that wasn't going to happen if the poor man couldn't even get into his own house, swarmed by his overly-excited children. In the corner of the room, Puppet, the only animatronic they took home, stood in its trademark place and its smile seemed even wider than normal as it reveled in the children's delight.

"Alright, alright, ok guys, calm down, calm down!" Michael continued to laugh as he finally unshouldered his burden. He sat down on his little old couch, the seven robotic children sitting on the carpet in front of him, each of their eyes almost glowing with anticipation. Michael then opened the bag, riffling through it, but then he paused suddenly, and looked back up at the children.

"Actually, hang on a bit, let's make this fun!" he grinned wickedly. "Let's have you guys all play to earn your treats!"

"What? No!" seven voices protested in despair and impatience.

"You promised no tricks, all treats this year!" it was Elizabeth who whined the loudest, pointing an accusing, metallic finger at her big brother.

"This isn't!" Michael replied easily. "I'm not tricking you when I say you need to play a few games for your treats!"

"Oooh! You big bully!" Elizabeth crossed her arms. Michael only laughed in reply.

"Come on," he encouraged. "It'll be fun!"

"Just tell us what we need to do," Cassidy interrupted, leaning forward in eagerness and determination. Michael might've been taken by surprise, Cassidy not being one to interrupt or be so bold, but instead, Michael was more pleased than anything, and a daring grin stretched slowly across his face. Uh oh, what had the seven just agreed to?

Well, it was a series of games. The first was a scavenger hunt, not for eggs, but for tiny plastic pumpkins. There were 50 hidden all around the house and whoever found the most would be the one to get their gift first.

"Ready? Set? Go!" Michael commanded, then before he could even blink, seven children were off sprinting through his house. He had forgotten that Henry had programmed them with superhuman strength, speed, endurance, senses and resilience. One would think that they, being made entirely of metal, would be too heavy to run fast, but no, in only five seconds, all seven of them were gone.

"Wow..." Michael muttered. "Wonder how long it'll take them to find all 50?" Puppet, who had heard this remark, made a weird noise that was supposed to be laughing, but since it and Michael had already vowed that they wouldn't be giving any hints at all, they remained in this living room area while the children darted about the house, trying to find the pumpkins.

"Want to work together?" Elizabeth had pulled Charlie aside at the start of the hunt.

"What? No! Elizabeth! This is a competition!" Charlie replied.

"No, listen, I'll help you find your pumpkins too, double the effort!" Elizabeth insisted. "Then, in return, you can help me with whatever challenge my idiot brother has in store next!" she finished, and Charlie's eyes widened in understanding.

"Deal!" she replied, and the alliance was set.

Meanwhile, the others were competing with one another to each find their own pumpkins.

"Hey! I found it first!" Gabriel snapped as Fritz found a pumpkin in one of their bedroom's pillowcases.

"But did you grab it first?" Fritz taunted, waving the pumpkin in front of Gabriel's eyes. Gabriel growled, a metallic sound, and lunged. But he missed, Fritz darting easily past him and back out into the hallway. But karma was already at work and Fritz was just about to grab the next pumpkin, which had been clipped to a window's curtain so that it was a bit harder to find than if it had just been sitting on the sill, when Charlie suddenly hopped onto his shoulders, grabbed the pumpkin, then bounced back to the ground.

"Ha!" she cheered. Fritz whipped around in awe and anger. He took a swipe at the pumpkin, but Charlie only needed to take one step backward.

"Hey!" he cried, but before he could say more, Gabriel interrupted.

"But did you grab it first?" he asked tauntingly, face shifting into a smirk. He may not have wanted Charlie to win either, but it felt so good to see Fritz get his just desserts that, just for that moment, it was worth it!

And this carried on for about half an hour before all 50 pumpkins had been found. Michael had been keeping count, having instructed each child to leave his or her pumpkins with him and he would keep track of whose pile was whose himself. This would prevent later dispute.

"Now we have 50!" he declared as Jeremy returned to him with the last four pumpkins.

"And who won?!" he demanded hopefully.

"Charlie," Michael replied apologetically. "She found 20! All the rest of you only found about eight."

"What?! How?!" Cassidy was next to return. Michael only shrugged. Meanwhile, Charlie, returning with Elizabeth on her arm, only shrugged innocently. Elizabeth laughed in reply, but still no one noticed and realized that Elizabeth and Charlie had been upholding a secret alliance.

"So, what is my prize?" Charlie stepped away from Elizabeth and up to Michael expectantly. Michael didn't reply verbally but, instead, withdrew... an old necklace. But when Charlie saw it, her eyes lit up because, engraved on the back of it, was her mother's name.

"How did you-?" Charlie asked.

"Henry," Michael replied.

"Hey! Where is he, anyway? Shouldn't he be home from work now too?" Gabriel asked.

"I am! I just had to make a side trip!" Henry's voice boomed from the doorway. As with when Michael came home, the seven swarmed happily over to Henry and he, like Michael, laughed happily, hugging each of them in turn before turning specifically to his daughter.

"Thank you, Daddy," Charlie's voice was thick with tears and she embraced Henry as hard as she dared.

"Of course, anything," Henry replied. He'd seen the necklace dangling in her hand and had known at once what it was. He hugged her back just as tightly, his own throat starting to ache with unshed tears. In the corner of the room, Puppet tilted its head, touched by the scene unfolding before it. It had taken special liking to Charlie just because they had shared one body for years and years on end and, thusly, had a closer bond to each other than anyone else in this house.

"Ok! Ok! What's the next game?" Fritz demanded after a few minutes of the sappy hugging.

"Fritz!" Susie and Elizabeth both chided the impatient boy.

"What?" he shrugged innocently. "I just want to see my prize too!"

"Oh! And that's where I come in! Perfect timing!" Henry grinned serenely. "I bought pumpkins!"

While the robotic children all went to sit obediently in the kitchen, left to wait for their next challenge, Michael, Henry and Puppet all went back out to the car to fetch the pumpkins.

"Here we go!" Henry placed one before each child.

"Carving to see who can make the best design?" Cassidy guessed.

"Bingo," Henry replied. "Here are your tools," then he handed them all knives, spoons, saws, pokers, screwdrivers, etc. Since they were all made of very hard, durable, powerful metal, he wasn't concerned at all about them hurting themselves. Additionally, he knew that they would have better pumpkins than what any human could make, their enhanced strength and control making it easier for them to carve a pumpkin with precision and steadiness of hand, a feat that sometimes even the strongest of humans struggled with.

While the children carved up their pumpkins, Henry engaged them in light conversation, occasionally giving tips on how to carve. The children might've had strength and control, but Henry did still have to teach them good technique on how to hold and use the tools properly. At one point, a slew of violent and high-pitched barking echoed in the driveway, sending everyone out of their seats.

"Must be the neighbors," Henry snorted at the children all, embarrassedly, settled back down.

"That was a jumpscare if I ever heard one!" Susie muttered, putting a hand over her heart. Gabriel and Fritz snickered at her.

"So much for the "no tricks, all treats" thing!" Elizabeth agreed, though she was only joking, knowing that this jumpscare had not been Michael's fault. Speaking of which, though, where was he? After bringing in a few of the pumpkins, he'd just kind of vanished. Was he watching that stupid vampire-human soap again? Stupid boy! Even Twilight was better than "The Immortal and the Restless"!

Once the pumpkins were finished, Henry clapped to call the children's attention.

"Time to see what you've created!" he grinned eagerly, and seven pumpkins were rotated towards him. Gabriel had carved a moon, Fritz a pirate (or at least, he'd tried), Susie a moon, Cassidy a rainbow and Jeremy what looked like a broomstick, or maybe it was a wand. Elizabeth and Charlie had been more ambitious, trying to carve faces. Elizabeth's was Michael's, or so she claimed, it was hard to tell. Charlie, however, had created a far better carving than anyone else combined, though of course it wouldn't count since she'd already received her gift, but her carving was Puppet's face. When she announced this, Puppet floated into the room and Charlie handed it the pumpkin.

"I know it's not the best," she grinned sheepishly as its spidery fingers grabbed at the pumpkin. It brought the orange fruit up to eyelevel and although its face was stuck in a permeant smile, everyone in the room could practically see that smile growing. It set the pumpkin down at once and embraced Charlie. She was surprised by such an openly affectionate gesture but did not hesitate to return the hug and smile into Puppet's shoulder.

In the end, Elizabeth was dubbed the winner. Although her carving wasn't the best, it was still somewhat recognizable and she gained points for her ambition, being a human face instead of anything simpler. Her gift had been something Henry made on Michael's request and it was a mini-figure of Circus Baby. Elizbeth backed up in surprise and maybe a bit of fear.

"Don't worry," Henry knelt down. "She won't hurt you. I've reprogrammed her to be gentler."

"But is this Baby's original conscious?" Elizabeth asked as she took the doll-sized robot.

"Not quite, because that burned, but I tried to bring her back as you knew her, but far kinder. It really wasn't her fault, everything she did. It was William. From that start, he'd set her up to fail, and I could tell that bothered you. I was trying to bring a piece of her back, for you!" Henry began to sound uncertain, worried that maybe Elizabeth didn't like her gift after all, but she shook her head, as though reading his mind.

"No," she said. "I love it..." then she hugged Henry tightly. In truth, she really did like having Baby back, but these feelings were beyond words, though her gratitude was evident in the way she embraced Henry. See, even though Baby had been that devil on Elizabeth's shoulder, that evil voice whispering terrible things in the back of her mind, Elizabeth had pitied her for that entire time and it had hurt her to know that Baby was one of the ones burnt to death in the pizzeria. To have this figurine was like giving Baby a second chance, and it was one Elizabeth loved. She smiled down at the little doll and it shifted its facial plates back up at her in reply.

The rest of the day was spent playing five other games, one being a costume contest similar to the pumpkin carving. Gabriel won that one, creating an astronaut costume with a white uniform Henry and Michael had bought while also adding bits and pieces of foil (plus some good old-fashioned paper and marker) onto the uniform to look like the silver symbols and buttons on an actual NASA uniform.

"But he doesn't even have a helmet!" Fritz complained, pointing a coat-hanger hook accusingly at Gabriel. It had been a joke from Cassidy and Susie that he dress up like a pirate like his animatronic counterpart, Foxy, had been that he had taken seriously when he couldn't find anything to be a Samurai sword, which had been his ideal costume.

"But he came close enough with everything else," Michael reminded, then he handed the young boy his gift. Like Elizabeth's it was a mini robot, but unlike Elizabeth's, it wasn't based on any Fazbear-bot. Instead, it was actually a mechanical car, similar to one you might see in a Target around Christmas, though it was far better because Henry had made it himself by hand.

The other games included a "wrap the mummy" styled game wherein each child had to wrap up Henry, Michael and two of the children that had already won and whoever had the snuggest tie the fastest won. Fritz finally won and he received, ironically enough, a sword. It was a bit more dangerous than a plastic toy one, but it wasn't entirely real. Instead, it was something else Henry had made, using leftover metal that came from making Gabriel's car. Fritz was in ecstasy for the rest of the day and although the sword was not a Samurai sword, he immediately took off to create his Samurai look, dropping his coat-hanger hook and forgetting about it before it even hit the floor. Sure, pirates were awesome, but Fritz wanted to be something else for once.

The next game was the boring but effective "guess how much candy is in the candy jar" game and Jeremy won that one, getting within the 10s while everyone else was off by at least 30-ish. Since Jeremy was a robot, the candy was not his prize, but what he got was far more fun (at least in his opinion). It was some new videogame he'd been eyeing for awhile. It took all of his willpower, too, to not go off and play the game at that very moment. It had been on Henry and Michael's insistence that he wait until after the last games were over first and he agreed, though it was clear that the temptation of the game was pressing.

The next game was equally simplistic, though a bit more enjoyable. This one was throwing candy-corn into trick-or-treat pails. Whoever had more in the pails after 60 seconds was the winner. Cassidy won by eight pieces. Her gift had been a car just like Gabriel's, but while his was supposed to look like a stylish old car from the 50s, hers was a race car. Perhaps it seemed a bit out of character for someone as shy and gentle as she, but she actually quite enjoyed watching NASCAR races and having this little replica that would actually drive on its own was amazing! She was already imagining tying one of her plushies onto the car and racing it around the house. Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

But there was still one more child without a gift.

"Awww, man!" Susie kicked her pail of candy corn over in anger, disappointment and shame. It had been disheartening to watch all of her siblings defeat her in all the games and she hated to think that she was the worst of them now because she still had yet to win a game.

"Don't worry," Michael knelt down beside her at once. Maybe he didn't have expertise in being a father, but he knew how to be a big brother. "Just because you didn't win today doesn't mean you won't win tomorrow and don't you think for even a second that your value is any less just because none of these games were your forte! It could be that I just didn't pick a game that matches your skill set, so it's all on me, ok? And not you, not at all. Understand?" he touched her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, his own almost pleading as he spoke to her. Susie had to admit that while Michael's comfort was definitely touching and it did flatter her because Michael had basically told her she was in fact quite talented, just not in this particular setting, but it seemed almost frantic. Too fervent and desperate. She could see something in Michael's eyes, beyond brotherly love. She wanted to ask, but she had the feeling that it wasn't something she could ask just yet.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, smiled sadly. She understood. It had been their other brother, Scott, the family coward, but that had not entirely been his fault. This had been after their mother had died, so William was all any of the three of them had in terms of a parent, but William had been so fixated on Elizabeth that he ignored Michael and Scott. Leaving his two sons to their own devices, Michael had quickly asserted his dominance over Scott and continued to make the boy's life miserable, not that his life was much longer... Due to one prank done in anger, hatred, disdain and misguided vengeance, Michael accidently killed Scott. It had been a traumatic moment for him, encouraging him to go from an arrogant, ignorant bully that thought he was better than everyone and that harm was all the weak deserved to the hero that stood before them all now. He had since repented, redeeming himself by setting his surviving sibling and all of her fellow victims free.

But the guilt over Scott's death was still fresh in Michael's mind even after all this time and his words to Susie weren't just words of reassurance to her, but his way of saying all the things he should've said to Scott back when they were still kids. The poor man, still hadn't forgiven himself... Elizabeth walked over to him, touching his shoulder in understanding. He gave her a sad smile, both of them understanding not just what had caused Michael's little frenzy, but the responsibility over Scott's death. Maybe it hadn't been Elizabeth who had teased Scott and pulled a deadly prank on him, but she had never once even thought to try and stand up for him, instead ignoring him and Michael both. If she had any hand in Scott's miserable life and equally miserable death, it was from neglect, inaction. But even so, Elizabeth still felt guilty, just like Michael.

"Michael's right, Susie," Henry reassured, starting to talk as Michael and Elizabeth both fell silent. "You may not have won any game today, but you have won quite a lot in the past. After all, it was thanks to you that we were able to learn a bit more about William," he said and the others all understood at once. During Michael's little Pizzeria Simulator shtick, Susie's spirit had controlled one of the pizzeria's arcade games to tell Michael of more of William's sins.

"And we never got the chance to thank you for that," said Henry. "So, if anything, you should've gotten your prize first! So how about you come out here and see what it is now?" he gestured to the door.

"Out?" Susie and the others asked. Henry only smiled and winked before opening the door...

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! A PUPPY!" everyone could hear Susie's delighted shrill even while she was all the way out in the driveway and they were still in the living room.

"So that's what that dog was!" Cassidy realized.

"And that's where Michael must've gone!" Elizabeth agreed.

"What?" Charlie asked in confusion.

"During the pumpkin carving!" Elizabeth replied. "I noticed that he was gone! Probably to look after it while we continued to play out games!"

"Very astute of you!" Michael grinned, genuinely impressed that Elizabeth had noticed his subtle escape from the games, leaving Henry in charge while he went out to look after the dog.

Speaking of which, before anyone else could speak, Susie and Henry were back, a squirming pup in Susie's arms.

"Oh! He's so cute!" Jeremy cried, then he ran over to pet the dog's little head. It yipped happily at him.

"What are you going to name it?" Cassidy demanded as she joined Jeremy, Michael and Gabriel following after.

"I'm naming her Michaela!" Susie replied proudly, looking up at Michael when she said so. He was genuinely taken aback, but when Susie only continued to insist that the dog's name was now Michaela, he could only smile and touch his heart, genuinely moved by Susie's gesture. Maybe he still harbored some guilt over his hand in Scott's death, but he still could take pride in the moments when could make his new little siblings happy. It wasn't that he was replacing.g Scott, it was that these kids were becoming his second chance at redemption. He could only hope Scott, wherever he was, would know this and be proud of it...

"Best Halloween ever!" Elizabeth decided finally, slapping Michael's back proudly as Michaela ran over to sniff her foot.

"And we aren't even done yet!" Henry replied.

"We're not? What else do you have planned?" Charlie asked, amused.

"Movies, then trick-or-treating!" he replied.

"You know we can't actually eat!" Fritz replied.

"But you can still go out for fun!" Henry shrugged. "Besides, you're bringing the candy back for Michael and I!" he added.

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny!" Cassidy and Charlie rolled their eyes at Henry.

"What movie are we watching?" Jeremy interrupted, clearly upset that the TV was going to be taken because that meant he had to wait even longer to play his new videogame.

"Oh, we're watching a lot of the Halloween classics: Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, you name it!" Henry sounded genuinely excited, the nostalgia of these films bleeding out onto him. "This is gonna be great!" he muttered, then he stumbled over to the TV in excitement and slipped the first film into the TV set. By the end of the night, the house would be full of candy and tunes, the Halloween songs already entirely memorized by the enchanted robots who had actually quite enjoyed these films, finally getting a chance to make up for lost time.

"Best Halloween ever!" Elizabeth repeated.

"Agreed!" the others said in unison, then Henry slipped another film into the TV.

 **AN: Here you go, ThePixel, hope you liked your week-late Halloween one-shot! (Sorry I didn't bring Nightmare/the little brother into this, but he didn't really fit into the narrative. This was a fluffy one-shot, not a sad or scary one, and in my mind, that little brother is dead. Nothing can or will ever bring him back. The only reason the Original 5 plus Elizabeth and Charlie are here is because they each possessed a robot, but the little brother didn't, so he's totally gone from this world. At least, I don't think he possessed any of the robots, but IDK for sure. The canon is weird). Either way, I hope this fic still met your approval!**


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